De La Soul to give away entire music catalogue free for one day

Hip-hop legends De La Soul are to give away digital copies of their entire back catalogue free for one day. From 4pm UK time (11am ET) today, 14 February, the group will allow fans to download every track and album in their discography on their website at no cost.

De La Soul, who created one of the greatest hip-hop albums of the 80s, the debut LP 3 Feet High and Rising, have to date been unable to sell their music digitally. Legal wrangles have prevented the trio from selling any of their back catalogue on iTunes or Google Play or to allow them to be accessed through music streaming services such as Spotify, Deezer or Pandora.

Because much of their work features a myriad samples that weren't fully licensed at the time, there have been many barriers in clearing the group's catalogue for digital distribution. That is soon to change, say De La Soul, but in the meantime, and in honour of the first album's 25th anniversary, they will give everything away free for 25 hours (until noon Saturday, 15 February in the US, 5pm in the UK).

"It's about allowing our fans who have been looking and trying to get a hold of our music to have access to it," De La Soul founding member Posdnuos told Rolling Stone. "It's been too long where our fans haven't had access to everything. This is our way of showing them how much we love them."

The free download bonanza will take place on the band's website at wearedelasoul.com. Remember, three is the magic number. Although, in this case, its four in the UK: 4pm.